Name it!!!

I write this blog to request you to suggest a name to our Team that can match up to the below listed Qualities...We are an energized Software Team and I think a good aggressive label to our Team can help us evolve our qualities better... We dont want to be called our selves as yankees or Red Sox.. because we are no commodity ;) So if you think you are as Innovative as we are... try out giving a Name to us... we promise we would use it with respect and would love you for giving us a name..;)

1. We are fun

2. We are hard working

3. We believe in doing what can change life

4. We like to work with each other

5. We love to spend time with each other at or out of work

6. We believe in the power of Will

7. We love cracking jokes and enjoying them

8. We love writing code and developing innovative software's

9. We love to finish things not just because we have to finish them.. but becuase we have to complete them.

10. We are Hungry and Greedy... Hungry to learn and Greedy to use our knowledge in practice

11. We Preach what we practice and practice what we do the best..

12. We ignite ourselves with the fuel of passion. Passion to build great things

13. We appraise ourselves every day

14. We are aggressive as warriors and believe in winning.

15. We are calm as Oceans but with the depth of knowledge.

16. We are creative , And we urge to be Super Creative

17. We are innovative , and We want to be Super Innovative

So if you think you got some name in mind that can match up some of the Team qualities that are listed above... do drop a line to Me.. sameera.cmc@gmail.com or add it as a comment..

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Of Teams and Trusts

I was told/asked today... "Trust Me, I can do a Good job"
I said "We Do"
He said "Thanks, do you mean the whole Team trusts in Me?"
I said "We do"

A Happy man goes out and on his desk to create innovations, those innovations that can change our lives. So does the word has so much weight in it, that it can make a sad face Happy? Yes it does...specially when it is being used beyond friends, families and loved ones.


In a Team, this ultimately diversified and complex subject has a lot of importance.. made of :


1. Mutual Respect and Understanding
2. Knowing each others strengths and weaknesses
3. Attitude to accept wins and losses
4. Arrogance to strive success at any costs


Many many more... such elements makes a Trust.. probably whoever added this word in the dictionary as TEAM.. thought of all T's together...


As in TRUST , TOGETHER, TIME, TASK, TEMPERAMENT....


So how does your Team build this trust?


Well since it is about a group of people trying to achieve a common goal.. trust is a factor what comes during the execution process of achieving this goal.


1. They speak to each other about their likes and dislikes
2. They try to understand what each one of them is capable of
3. They Help and get helped by each other.
4. They sit in the Pantry room and talk about how Yankees are good then Red Sox.
5. They sit desk to desk and greet each other with smile when they see each other.
6. They are open to each other not only to share what they can easily do, but also to share what they cannot do
7. They think together
8. They agree and they Disagree.. and when there is a disagreement they put their points forth for discussion.


Well there are many things the Team members do to turn general functions into Trust.... Usually when a team is formed new.. every one is just a Role.. "A Project Manager" , "A Tech Lead" "A Developer" "A QA Member" "A Business Analyst"... when people start to look each other beyond the role they start building the Trust... and how do they Start to look at each other beyond role?


"Yogesh is a fan of Cricket"
"Raj , likes movies "
"David has an amazing collections of games"
"Sidd Loves romantic poems"
"Rob is a Sports Fan"


All of this makes the team members know about each other and that is where they start to think more than just a role.. "Step to build Trust - 1" - Know Each other well


Once they start knowing each other there is a test of commitment... When people start seeing each other with the level of commitment they give to the Team, builds the second stage ....I have seen teams going negative ways when any of the members starts to think that he is over commited while other isnt at all. "Step to build Trust - 2" - The Commitment to the Team


"I think I am not the right guy to do this"
"I think I messed it up"
"I should have done it like this"
"I failed, but I think I learnt my lessons"
"I was scared if I can achieve this or not, but I did not know how to say this"


If you hear this within the Team (Flowing from the leaders) its a step in building trust... when people are open and open enough to accept mistakes it means they trust that their counter part or Teams are going to help them . "Step to build Trust - 3 - Openness"


Love, Hatred and Trust doesnt come on day 1... The entire process takes time.. so when you trust that with time things will improve, it means you go in the right direction. Trust is built with time.. so let it have its own foundation.... dont enforce trust on Teams. "Step to build Trust - 4 - Take time"


You have your own timelines, yet you are there to help the other... That helping attitude wins a lot of trust and builds a lot of it within the Team... if you dont have troubles sorted by groups in the Team it means that you need to rethink on the trust factor. "Step to build Trust - 5 - Help and Get helped"


Team building is another way to build trust, slowly but steadily... Ask people to speak to each other when they are not connected. Get them involved so they can work out their issues. Have Team building games. Let people come with suggestions and let the groups give suggestions.
Step to build Trust - 6 - Team Building Exercises"

So what are you waiting for? Isnt it the time to build Trust? Go on Mate... choose your path to build trust for your team....
See the Step 1

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Please dont Rape good Ideas!!!

We all have one beautiful thing called brain, and this beautiful thing helps us create several , several thousand ideas every day , every month , every year... eventually all those beautiful, unpolished, crude yet energizing ideas dont make it to the big reality... Well not only that several of them dont even get to the next level... not that all of these ideas are going to change the world, but Ideas loose track.. in other words Ideas are raped by its own creators sometimes and sometimes by the ones who share these ideas from the creators of it...
I request those beautiful brains who create good ideas not to rape them.. Yes Please dont rape them... bring them to the world so someone can turn them into reality... A few ways not to Rape your ideas:

1. Present them better
Like I said we all have great caliber to generate great Ideas... but 5 out of 10 times, ideas are not presented in a polished , brief and effective way...for instance somebody in the office recommended me to have 2 stand ups a day one as you start your day and one after your lunch... unfortunately a very good idea did not have a effective base to explain... just an Idea is not enough... you need to know whats the ROI....you need to know whats needed in and out to make the Idea work...Ideally a Idea should be packaged with :

• Whats the Idea


• What it would take to implement it


• What are good and bad points


• Whats the execution path and ROI

2. Choose the right Audience
A lot of times Ideas get exposed and shut in the wrong audience... think of throwing a technical Idea to a sales person.. wow... its very important to expose the version of idea to the audience that can back the Idea with the required financial needs to implement it..
For instance if you have an idea to build a software to manage the parole of the company, share the Idea with the finance manager and explain him how your Idea will support his needs and reduce his costs.. if you go with this idea to your Software manager he would throw it out :P

3. Explain them better

If we implement this :
It will help us in Blah Blah
It will save us Blah Blah
It will let us do Blah Blah in future
Always when an Idea is to be presented make sure you present it with :

• 2-4 Top Benefits functionaly and financially


• 2-4 Top problems that would continue if we dont implement it


• 2-4 Top costs that would be associated with it


• Timelines of implementations....

Sounds good?
4. Show commitment to it

Whats the use of you throw the best Idea in the world and just delegate it to someone and dont follow up ever again.. I have seen best ideas throw away due to lack of ownerships from creators and owners..
If you are a Sr. manager .. put it in a TADA list with a follow up plan.. as in date X follow up 1 , Date Y follow up 2 etc etc.. Since this Idea is your baby make sure its problems and weaknesses are your too... take lead in resolving the blockers or supporting to resolve the blocks.

5. Be ready to evolve it
Even if your ego doesnt allow you to really take any changes to your ideas... Please prepare yourself to take changes and suggestions to your ideas.. after all that is what makes you a Team doesnt it?

6. Share it , never keep it to yourself

If I share my ideas my collegue / competitor will take it and do good?
If I share my Idea and somebody doesnt like it , I will have to face the trouble
They dont like My Ideas why share?
Well a lot of times above few questions actually result in a gang rape of your Ideas...
So now friends... dont keep your Ideas hidden, Dont rape them by doing things that really dont get them effective...
Go on Ideate..

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You need Business, Not just a Business Plan?

My sister spoke to me yesterday asking me to put my opinion on something very important... She said "I want to quit my Job, Want to start a business with some partnership ideas and friends who are interested" I said "OK, Good Idea, have you thought of this?"


1. Do you and your partners vision what you plan to Sell?


2. Do you have a Business Plan?


3. is there a Business Model? Short term and Long term vision?


4. Whats the Plan B?


5. Who are the Investors ?


6. More Importantly Who are the Customers and How far they are with you?


She noted all the points and said she would need to discuss this with her partners... I agreed... the questions did not get left there... I took them with me further and thought what do people think when they jump into businesses??


I say because there was a point when I jumped into Business with very few questions answered... result???? I did not sustain long.. so for those who think you can start a business just because your client thinks you are great and he can do business with you... Hold On... Get down the Horse.. sit on the Balcony of uncertainty and think of this:


1. Get your Product Idea first , Correct and Validated
If you think building a social networking site is by far the best thing on earth... validate it against who are you going to target it to? Are your prospects your customers too???? Do you think they will buy it just because you have built it? Well this is no Bollywood starrer movie which people would come to see just because it is made... They wont buy you just because you have something to sell.


2. Get your Sales and No Sales planned.
Majority of first time entrepreneur think that their product would be bought just because they have built it right. Plan your Sales.. and NO Sales.. Understand what you can sell and what you cannot..


3. Money today, Money Tomorrow
You need it, to run the business... CAPEX or OPEX... you need a big sum of money to roll in and out.. their is a big cost associated with every sale you do...Marketing, Branding, promoting, building, maintaining, and finally Winning the Sale.... All of this needs Money.... have a Short term goal for a roll over money, Have along term vision for a turnover..


4. Do not Steal your previous Employer's clients
A majority of new timers approach the clients with the current employers... because during the course of employment they have built a very good rapport with them... This is a Moral SIN.. DO NOT STEAL customers from your current employer... Get and Give a fair chance to run your business on Moral grounds... This maybe an easy way to start... its not the easy way to Sustain...


5. Do not spend time Planning Business Model...
You need it of course... but don't waste time building a fool proof plan for your business...neither just jump into it.. have the following:


1. Proxy company : Start virtual staying with your current assignments, see how you are accepted by your prospects and customers


2. Capitalize build a short and long term capital base..


3. Ideate, evaluate, Validate and then sell your plan to a smaller set... if it ticks its good to know first hand.. back off if that's not what can be sold..


Think of Goals when you start , Think of Vision to grow... What will take you further is the Attitude, Approach, Strategy, Tactics and Execution.... if you have done the first 4 then go Sell it.... if not think of the first one....

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My Time Sucks!!!

I am getting busier and busier everyday, Each of the days I tried Pomodoro's they worked well, eventually you need a discipline to follow pomodoro days .. and I suck at it... Honestly in the last few weeks I had no UN SCHEDULED TIME FOR MYSELF

People ask Me on how I can spend time on blogging every day, still being active on FB or twitter .. I always say "I got 25 hrs a day" the secret is that this statement is not true...I always manage to keep a bigger set of time unscheduled.. Yes UnPlanned , UnOrganized..completely contradicting to following planned days across days and years... Yes very true... a lesson learnt from my previous Boss Subash Sangam.. he once mentioned me that it is better to not be planned for the full day and yet to hava a TADA list ;)

Boss.. I want to say that I took the lesson right and follow it.. though not as well as I should..

Ok so whats the benefit of not having a day in office planned?

1. Gives you liberty to utilize the time or unplanned activities that pop up everyday... as in "The tap in the bathroom is leaking, can you fix it please?"

2. Gives you time to think of the mistakes you do, today , everyday
How many of us really note down what we missed today.. I tried to.. it worked.. this is only possible when you have some time available for yourself. You can list down what mistakes you made and what mistakes others made so you can tackle the issue before it is too late to address it..

3. You are either a Sailor or a Fire fighter
I was always told by people that Sailors earn well , fire fighters dont... if you have no unscheduled / made free time means you are handling planned activities and unplanned activities.. in other words .. you are doing your job and fire fighting...
Sailors can sail smooth ;) unless waters turn dirty :P

4. Successful leaders need time to think future and utilize reflections of past
Only if you keep some time unplanned to pick this topic and do it..

In my current job, I used some time to build Team members portfolios.. this helped me when I appraised them.. to tell them what good they did and what good they could not.. and why.. eventually a habit became a blessing and got me to a habit to steal some time in keeping this portfolio...

Now with all this... My time sucks now...sadly I need 28 hrs a day now... I am really spending my time fixing problems and issues... as opposed to those free zone times when I would think of mistakes made by Me and our Team, and trying to learn on what needs to be done better next time and if nothing else trying to put a paper on how and what of visions.

Will this time pass away soon? It Will? Will it? Well I ask this to myself to bring a new myself to PLAN the best UNPLANNED times for me.... See you tomorrow

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Why does the world hate you Mr. Obama?

I am impressed... Video worth a watch...

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Build it or Buy it?

This is the second time in as many as 6 months that we stand ahead to take a decision whether we build or buy.. eventually the first time we chose to go a SEMI approach.. pick something that can be integrated and partially built.. but it was more of a buy decision this time we havent made the decision yet, but we are about to...

I am sure this is one of your favourite question that you get every now and then???? anyways .. some tips and hints on when to switch your boards for either side of decisions...I give you our UI evaluation case study and I am sure that will help you make a decision if you land in the same bullock cart as we do.

This is a 3 fold process that involves thorough investigation on whether to build something and support it or use the off the shelf product ... I would divide this process into various stages and 3 high level folds...
1. The Business need
2. The Technology need
3. The future need

Remember any decision you make on either side you will have to consider the 3 fold approach that revolves around the above 3... We needed to build a top class UI for our future product and we had to decide on the technologies, frameworks and architectures and designs... We chose the 3 folded approach and it seems to have worked in a better way...

Approach .. and Steps : The Business need
1. Its the Google Wave that is future, do you need it?
A majority of times decision makers tend to move there directions towards buying products based on the success stories of the product, testimonials and what they hear over the Arrington world (I am not sarcastic). So what if Google Wave will do the future of collaboration but if your product or your customer doesnt see any real turn value why go that way??? I read over a friends status message that Google Wave is amazing and he would get that into his product soon... Gosssshhhh save me How would you use it a farther question??? is there a need? is your customer asking for something that ONLY Google wave can provide? The answer is difficult... sometimes looking at technology as a first step in taking a decision is probably a not so good thing to do. Lead it by checking what you need and then moving to what the available products can do.. Didnt I say sometime back "We are a Good Agile Team, We can still do with what we have in terms of Development product tools"

2. Use case 1 needs Grids, Use case 2 needs tables, Use case 3 needs rows and columns
Well wow.. does it happen? No it cant.. it will never.. You would never know the exact requirement.. but there is a eagle view of what is available,this eagle view can determine what you need and to what level... If you know the exact immediate needs to a certain level it would then mean that you can define what you can use to build.... Havent you heard from your friends that a company implemented a full ERP solution just to manage the timesheets and payrolls of their employees?? Honestly thats the case always... the step here would be to detail the needs and then decide how we build it... Technology is possible.. Business not!!!!
If you prefer to build it then think of ONLY what needs to be built... A CMS can be a blogger or a Drupal.. you have to choose what you need and build only that....

3. Time is an excuse, sip it
It has always being a major item in discussions where decision makers call a buy as less time consuming... to me it is not.. even if you get a best documented product.. there is a usability , usage and understanding which needs time before you actually spend an effort.. while making this decision you have to ensure that if you build it on your own will you be able to do it in a reasonable timeframe? A lot of time buy is used for easily build able options and build is used for easily buy able options... if you think of time you tend to make wrong decisions...
Time is an important factor but gulp it till:
1. You have exact needs you want
2. exact needs you want to build now
3. exact timeframe it will take you to build
4. time frame it will take to understand, integrate and maintain...

Approach ... Steps the Technical Need
4. Rip your architecture naked and then compare
Its an amazing product , got an amazing architecture, works with the new technologies and frameworks....
1. Does it fit your architecture?
2. Does it go well with the architecture in both its current and planned phase?
3. Would it be an overhead to migrate your existing architecture to adapt to the new integration?

If you are going to build it then:
1. Will it get upgraded with your technology upgrades?
2. does it happen to fall on a path where the frameworks/standards in use can be used without limitations?

Bring a level of nudity in your architecture and try to fit the solution.. would give a view of what to do..

5. Can you make the most of it for your technology?
When making a decision we usually think that we can mould our architectures, frameworks and designs in a way we want.. exact way we want.. we are sometimes wrong, miserably wrong... this is one area where we should be careful about... will integrating the off shelf product give you a chance to renovate your architecture? think it like this... can using JBPM mean that in future you can turn from tomcats to JBoss??? think it like this... Can using a JBoss let you evolve your Transaction Management??? Most of the times these architectures or products are aloof with a simple API access... just lets you use it.. doesnt let your architectures learn whats new and what they can improve on...

Approach ... Steps : The Future Need
6. Maintain and Upgrade or Upgrade and maintain???
Imagine your offshelf product changed its architecture (This has happened with us in the past where we had to change our interfacing architecture because the Viewing technology we use upgraded its design), will you be forced to upgrade yours?

Imagine a bug in the integrating product whose fix means a design change for your and the products design.. Are you ready to Maintain because the off shelf tool has to be upgraded?

When you build it... the question reverses...
Since its you who has built it.. you can decide to upgrade it when you think of it...(Thank god we just chose Interfacing wrappers for Castor and Hibernate) its maintain for bug fixes and upgrade when you need it...

Now if you these 6 pointers in mind I am sure you will have all possible evaluation metrics in front of you.. and then you would be able to make a better decision... just so that you get more help... An argument on the ROI is always there...
So the initial short-term cost of implementing ready to go solution is often more than a self built solution, but the ROI is better for the ready to go solution in long term... with a consideration that :
1. The adapted product takes care of technology upgrades.
2. The adapted product isolates and fixes any design, implementation.
3. The adapted product provides you the facility to migrate the data in future when you have to go away from them, there is an upgrade in the design (This is overlooked always)

Go for a ready to go solution when you are sure that :
1. The business and technical future is aligned.
2. It can meet majority of your needs without modifying the product’s software modules. And it meets all of what you need upfront.
3. If you think that you have a Team of Dumbasses who cannot build or maintain the custom solution you need.

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You either love your job or you're a Porn Star

I am just about to finish my day, a long day after being off sick for the last 2 days and being in transit for the former 2 (I started on Thursday from the UK and halts at Heathrow, Connecting at Paris and Travel to Pune made me back only by Saturday). On my way back got a chance to see this movie "My Life in the ruins" a movie about how a tourist guide not so passionate about her job ends up making it fun. An old pal in the movie makes this quote "You either love your job or you're a Pornstar" and that changes the life of the said tourist guide!!!

I cant tell you how much I agree with this..... but it reminds me of a friend of mine (I discussed to yell his story here, he happily agreed to lend it to me without a disclosure of his name as he is changing his job).. So my friend Zzzz doesnt love his job, to that matter he is one of the best at it but he doesnt like it... he does it well but he doesnt like it, he is passionate about how and what he does ,but he doesnt like it... Yes the BUT in the BUTT is painful here... I asked him a question Why?????

His answers below:
1. I am not appreciated for my efforts, but I am paid well
2. I do all challenging things, but I feel boring
3. I like it when I am into it , but I dont like to get into it
4. I think I improve myself every time i do it, but it is still a routine
5. I think my Boss is a dumbass , but he is good at what he does
6. I think I am the only one who works here, but the others do the same and paid less
7. Once I am in the office I enjoy being in the company of the colleagues, but its a problem for me to reach here..
8. I need more money to keep myself happy, But I am not sure if I would get that elsewhere

Well the part before the BUT is from my friend, I added the later and he agreed when I shared this post with him before I posted it...

So what do you think, what are the things that make you a Porn Star????? Ahh just being too pessimistic here... but what are they ? Dont forget to add the BUTT before you start being an ASS

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How to turn the negativity into positivity?

With my last post Winning Habit 2 - Kill the Negativity... I mentioned that it is very important that you Kill the negativity within you so that you succeed on your own... however its not just you who can spread negativity, its the whole world around that spreads it... And yes this can be 1 or more of your Team members... Remember if you are a Team Player , Leader , member or a Manager, for you to succeed it is important that your Team succeeds.... Now how do we tackle the negativity that may be present or gets created in your Team?

So here we go on the journey to explore.... Negativity needs to be managed by process of

1. Identify the negativity

2. Turn it into Positivity

1. Identify the Negativity

A major part of the negativity comes from the Pessimistic members of your Team.. These members are of 2 types...

1. Atomic Pessimists - They see the negative side of everything possible in the world. This is also a set of people who spreads the maximum negativity within the Team.

e.g. These type of people would spread negativity about everything possible.. from work to role to salary to managers to collegues to team members to tools to products... They would only see the negative side of everything that they have to deal with for a reason or not.

2. Objectized Pessimists : These are negative turners who are pessimists because they do not agree with certain informed logic and then they take a path of spreading negativity.

e.g. Someone doesnt agree to why a code is written in certain way, he would spread negativity about it to others upon every bug raised or every issue raised if his concern is not handled. Its very likely that Objectized pessimists can turn into Atomic pessimists in long run.

Finding negativity is easier... Atomic negativity spread by Atomic pessimists can be easily found as they would talk about it everywhere and every now and then. To identify Objectized negativity try having a group discussion and you would find the objectized pessimists raising their view...

2. Fixing this Negativity...

1. Make them Aware :

It is important that the pessimists are told about reality every now and then. The reason to have Atomic pessimists in your team can be due to them not being in a certain position by promotion or needs special mention or attention or needs to cover for what he / she is not aware of and wants to divert people so that they dont figure it out. A simple way to kill the negativity is to make the team member aware on how important they are, why they are important, and also explaining them on how it will affect them , the project and the Team if they continue to spread this negativity.

2. Negativity cant go AIR

Its important that comments promoted via negativity are not let go off without addressing. So when you hear a statement coming from a pessimist saying "This is not going to work...".... "We will see" is not an answer... instead it will need to be addressed. Its also important that it is addressed right in front of the whole Team. Air'ed negativity takes vulgar shape and can cause a lot of damage to team Morale and Momentum. Now Imagine what happens when you hear "This is always like this"

3. A pessimist can create atomic negativity a Team can kill it before birth

If the pessimistic items are discussed right in the Team group, a lot of times the peer pressure would kill it. 2 people standing at equal levels would be hesitant to spread negativity always being under a pressure that the counter part can tackle this. Bringing the Team together on such things are of real help.

4. The word is "GO ON"

If the pessimism is not letting you grow, The Team member spreading it is no more healthy and helpful. It is important at such times to identify the personal and behavioural aspects and get rid of such member as it may destruct a lot.

5. Invite Pessimism, Never let it grow into negativity

Invite Objectized pessimism, because if your decissions , your executions dont get pessimistic views also means that you may fall bad. Let people throw their views that are pessimistic, work over them in a positive hire and try to improvise on what you do. Also remember that there is always a guy in the Team who would say "I told you so".

My experience....

A year and a half ago when I was involved in the strategic product development in an outsourcing firm, The Team chose a framework to develop the Software. At one point there was a question within a few minds if the framework was appropriate... this pessimism was not handled very well and later it resulted into aggressive negativity.... The issue turned so negative around the framework.. that people started blaming the framework for reasons that the framework was not linked to... in other words Any thing goes wrong is because we chose Blah Blah frame work ... Result 1.5 yrs of development and the product was scrapped.

So lets take the negativity to work Positive for us!!!!!!

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What Makes a Great Company!!!!

Fred Wilson the noted VC wrote on his blog ... Ten Characteristics of a Great Company I agree to a greater extent... This post is really worth a read... however I think there are few more things that really keep the great companies really great...yet I expand his thoughts....

Fred says 1) Great companies are constantly innovating and delighting their customers/users with new products and services.
That's the way to succeed, not in terms of just revenue but also in terms of product enrichment. For those of who are not in the CXO cadre, it may be different..because you never see the eagle eye view of things... But remember your Agile way of things? You bring small features like the Visual Dashboards , Firefox compatibility , a small glimpse of drag and drop in the dashboard.. and it changes the perspective of the usage of your product... I call it a Rabbit mode trick... these small things that you bring to your customers is in short term a carrot to attract them, in long run a way to engage them with you forever...

Fred says 2) Great companies are built to last and be independent and sustainable. Great companies don't sell out.
Its time that turns boys to Men...it applies to companies, Tough times show whether you are truly a great company or not... and that doesn't mean that if Yahoo gets bought by Microsoft in Future, yahoo is not a great company... remember the time they have sustained ;)


Fred says 3) Great companies make lots of money but leave even more money on the table for their users and partners.
Indeed... don't ever think of just getting just revenue from your customers... expose the Unique Value propositions to them... Free of Cost... Leave them Happy with surprises... I remember I read somewhere...
"When I see something available for Free and then I have to pay for it, it makes me Mad.... When I know I have to pay for something and then I get it for free or with some discounts it makes me Happy"

Fred says 4) Great companies don't look elsewhere for ideas. They develop their ideas internally and are copied by others.
Yes. I agree... whats the use in bringing in a twitter again? it deserves its own luxury and space...Generating a Idea that is Unique will always help us get where no where stands... rest would be a copier...

Fred says 5) Great companies infect their users/customers with their brand. They turn their users and customers into marketing/salesforces.
Hey didn't I say Twitter was 5 % marketed by company , 95 % marketed by its users? it doesn't just apply to products or companies... it also applies to individuals..

Fred says 6) Great companies are led by entrepreneurs who own a meaningful piece of the business. As such, they make decisions based on long term business needs and objectives not short term goals.
I am not sure if I fully agree on the first part of the statement.... Great companies are led and participated by Visionaries... and that's where they think of long term goals. You cant just call yourself a visionary if you have no view of future that is way ahead of where you stand...
It should be driven by Attitude , Approach , Strategy , Tactics and then Execution... Just vision is not enough....

Fred says 7) Great companies have a global mindset. They treat every person in the world as a potential customer/user.
Reminds me of my previous posts .... Think Global , Act Local

Fred says 8) Great companies are attempting to change the world in addition to making money.
The change we talk here is about The Unique Value proposition that you would bring to every customers and change their lives and make it easier....

Fred says 9) Great companies are not reliant on any one person to deliver their value proposition.

If it is you are dead before you start. Because one person can make a mistake, A Team cant... you will have a opinion and if you are a great team... that opinion will help you avoid and recover.

Fred says 10) Great companies put the customer/user first above any other priority.
First, But Customer is not god... Zuckerberg after the redesign of Facebook said "The most disruptive customers don't listen to their customers"

Sameer Says 11) Great companies are made by Great Teams..
Read my post 2 days ago....

Said that .... We have a potential to be the Great Company!!! Yes we do!!!. Lets evolve!!!!!!

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Value Proposition

2nd October, amidst all the fears of the production issues we had this week... I ended up in the Management meeting in Paris... nice office, nice wonderful people and of course nice lunch...

The meeting went well and the last topic to cover was "Value Proposition" for some a buzzword, for some a stand of the company... to me it is what would define you!!!.. how many of us know what to talk when asked about "What you do???" I am sure not many... several know what they do but cannot articulate. so what is this Value proposition???? honestly I cannot spell it well but it doesn't matter if you can define it well...

The Big Boss put forth an amazing piece of definition... I accept, I like it... and to add to what it is I felt that to all others when you have to define your value propositions... think of :

Crossing the Charms define it well... like it did :

For: (bulls-eye customer)
Who: (key purchase motivation insight)
Our product is a: (customer language)
That: (key benefit)
Unlike: (key competitors)
Ours: (key differentiators)
At a price: (less than, equal to, or higher than competitors).

So whats our Value Proposition mates?????

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My Stars are great!!!

I am not really talking about the stars in reference to Astrology .... No, I am also not talking about the stars that are in Galaxy, No No No.... I am also not talking about the Film Stars.... I am talking about the Stars that I work with every day, Yes those members of our Team who every time show that they are the best for various reasons....

Why I say that????

We had a rough last week, imagine the worst every day you had in your life.... and then think of having the same day for 4 consecutive days ???? Goshhhhhhh.. trouble some..well we had one.. recently... in fact it ended yesterday.. and the 404 blog might have explained why I was not continuing with my posting spree.....

So when you have a rough time , people say everything and everyone goes against you... If you ask me today... I wont believe you....I think every one that I see stood by and took this to the most positive effect...We are glad that we are a Team that has the equilibrium ....

Imagine a guy who has just landed after a 24 hr flight , reaches in the middle of the night and in 2 hours is ready to support the system.

Imagine the guy who takes up the ownership to fix and resolve whatever that may come and fix it for the people who had issues.

Imagine a guy , who while doing his set of tasks just jumps into the second line and ensures that every single call coming in is answered and answered successfully

Imagine a guy , who is on holiday , On a boat and is still logging into the systems to fix your problems?

Imagine a guy, who turns on a holiday attached to a long weekend to the office , to ensure that if something goes wrong , he is there to support it...

Imagine a Boss, who says "It Happens" after you have caused a blunder...

Imagine a Team that says ... "Prepare us in Advance next time"

Imagine you having one such Guy in your team????? Didnt I tell you the imagination itself makes you happy??? Well imagine this imagination turns to reality, Only Once????? See a smile on your face? Now imagine this reality is cloned ????? not once , not twice but 3,4,5,10,12,18,20 times?????

Yes... Such a great team, You speak about 1 and you cant stop yourself mentioning the rest others... You fall in a ditch and they are there not only to get you out of there, but to clean yourself up so you can run another race....

What a Team!!!!!!! What Stars!!!!!

I always felt that it takes a great Attitude to succeed....Read more here What when you have the Team with Greatest Attitude?????

What would you do with this miracle of clone? Build a Software Product?????? Well this Team is going to build the future... for the Team , for the Company , For each one of us.... and when you have stars building your future, I wont mention that the outcome is going to be Shining....

Thank you guys for being a Team and such a great Team...

Thank you guys for surfing the waves of Tsunami's with a confidence to come to the shores with great stunts

Thank you guys for the Great Attitude you carry!!!!

Now why shoud'nt I say These Stars make my Stars great!!!!!!

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